WILLEMSTAD - The withdrawal of permission for Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) to land and take-off in Venezuela was unsubstantiated. The Venezuelan aviation authority INAC violated agreements and damaged the reputation of the Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority CBA, the lawyer of the airline wrote to CBA.

 

The letter from Arndt van Hoof of law firm Soliana Bonapart & Aardenburg to CBA chief Giselle Hollander states that INAC's decision to prohibit DAE from landing, taking-off or even entering the airspace of Venezuela is only based on inspections performed in Venezuela on January 10 and April 20 of this year. DAE has in any case not been informed of any other grounds.

 

It regarded routine inspections on the Fokker jets PJ-DAA and PJ-DAB. The letter states the INAC wrongfully assumed there was maintenance overdue on these aircraft.

 

However, according to the lawyer, in January and April DAE had immediately and satisfactorily fulfilled the action points of these inspections. Afterwards both planes had resumed flying back and forth to Venezuela.

 

"The fact that these planes flew after the inspections and for some time didn't even go to Venezuela removes any respectable reasons to withdraw DAE's authorities and seems more prompted by the political climate in Venezuela than by supervision of aviation in Venezuela."

 

For that matter, PJ-DAA had been undergoing the periodic major inspection and maintenance known as "C-Check" in Mexico since February and only returned last week. PJ-DAB is now awaiting its own C-Check and hasn't been deployed either since February.

 

Van Hoof added that DAE has lodged an objection against the decision and expects the "mistake" will be corrected, if necessary, after an appeal procedure. The lawyer is requesting clarification from CBA on the procedure followed by INAC.

 

According to him, the withdrawal of DAE's authorities is a severe measure that cannot be taken without considering the procedural guarantees. According to a certain Caribbean aviation treaty involving both Venezuela and Curaçao, withdrawal or limitation of authorisation is only possible after consultation with the parties involved, for which certain terms are also applicable.

 

However, INAC had not kept DAE informed correctly and completely, according to Van Hoof. He therefore wants to know if CBA was informed adequately.

 

Apart from that, DAE is convinced that INAC violated the agreements made with the international community and in particular Curaçao on respecting each other's supervisors and is still violating such as long as the unlawful withdrawal continues.

 

According to the lawyer, INAC undermined the authority of CBA by depriving a Curaçao airline company under its supervision of all its rights and authorities based on alleged overdue issues with its aircraft, while CBA had approved these planes and issued flight permits.

 

He wrote that CBA, the Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Spatial Planning, country Curaçao or if necessary the Kingdom of The Netherlands has sufficient interest to request clarification from INAC or Venezuela on this matter.

 

A request for arbitration could be made with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), but as this is very time-consuming, DAE is aiming for a quicker solution via the Venezuelan administrative procedure. For that DAE requires CBA's cooperation.

 

It was meanwhile decided that local inspectors will check out the DAE aircraft shortly. The results of this exercise should convince Venezuela that CBA was justified in issuing the flight permits.

 

"The power and value of the permits issued by CBA to all airlines under its supervision is limited by the reputation and credibility of CBA and the relevant ministry. The recent actions of the INAC demonstrate that this reputation is at risk.

 

"The present request for immediate and forceful intervention is not only in the interest of DAE, but also in a broader context, in support of protecting the aviation sector in Curaçao," the letter stated.

 

Minister Earl Balborda (PNP) is leaving for Venezuela today, Tuesday, with a delegation that includes Hollander, to talk to INAC.

 

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